


Come Home To Me

by SonjaJade



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-14
Updated: 2012-06-14
Packaged: 2017-11-07 18:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/434059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place about a week after the end of the 2nd OVA movie. Megumi sends for Sanosuke to come home following Kenshin's death. The two of them finally settle their unresolved feelings for each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Come Home To Me

*****DISCLAIMER! I don't own Ruroni Kenshin or any of the characters within.******

_**A/N: This takes place about a week or so after Kenshin's death in the second OVA movie.** _

* * *

She'd sent for him after Kenshin's—rather _Shinta's_ —death. He had a feeling that when he helped the legendary swordsman onto that boat in Shanghai that day it would be the last time he ever saw his friend. The maroon splotches that covered his body, the frailty of his once seemingly indestructible physique, the far off stare of memories forgotten and a mind that struggled to remember…

Sanosuke walked into Tokyo unrecognized; just the way he liked it. Sure, the place held lots of memories and friends, but that part of his life, his 'Bad' era, was long gone. Now he was just Sano Sagara. No debts owed any more, no scores left to settle, just plain old Sano.

When he reached her door, he hesitated to knock. It had been years since he'd seen her… What would she think of him after all this time? Even though they'd kept a lazy written correspondence between them, it wasn't the same as being face to face. Finally, he rapped on the door frame. Her voice came floating out through the window, a bright, "Just a minute!" Sano straightened himself. Suddenly he thought maybe he should have gotten a shave and a haircut. Like there was enough time to worry about that now.

Megumi opened the door and said nothing. She knew right away it was him, and after a long moment of looking into each other's eyes, she simply moved out of the way so he could enter her humble home. After she closed the door, he said, "Wow, this is a nice place. Just right for a fox like yourself." He turned around and looked at her sad face. "How's the little missy been?"

Megumi started a kettle of tea as she answered him quietly. "She's almost as bad off as he was. For whatever reason, the disease has spread more quickly in her. I suspect she will be joining him before the year is out." Sano sat heavily on a stool and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Man… I can't imagine for the life of me what possessed that girl to infect herself like that." He pulled his dirty brown cloak from his shoulders and threw it near the door, as if to keep it away from Megumi's mad sense of cleanliness. "How was the funeral?"

Megumi set a cup of tea on the table for him, poured one for herself and then sat down as well. "It was quiet. Not many people even knew he'd returned, so it was just the family and us. You know, me, Yahiko and Tsubame, Ayame and Suzume." She wiped a stray tear away. After a moment, she said, "It's frustrating as a doctor when you see someone who is ill and there's absolutely nothing you can do. You feel as helpless as a newborn kitten."

Sano nodded. "It's the same when you're a warrior like Kenshin was. Here you have a man who could kill as easily as we breathe air, yet he couldn't fight against the disease, or time, or the effects of battle on an aging body… it must've been hard for him too." Without thinking, his hand came to Megumi's cheek. "I know you did all you could. And even if you feel like you accomplished nothing, at least both he and the missy knew you were trying. That compassion is more valuable than you know." When he dropped his hand, Megumi let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

After a moment she found her voice. "Y-yes. I suppose you're right." What was with her? Sano didn't affect her like this before. She knew he'd always had a soft spot for her in his vile little heart… Well, maybe vile was too harsh a word… devilishly mischievous was a better phrase. But as she took a quick glance at him, watching him as he enjoyed the warm tea, she knew why he'd made her breath hitch. He was no longer the loud mouth rooster head he'd been. He was older, more mature now, a man that was no longer trying to hold onto his raucous teenaged youth. Even as he sat before her in filthy clothes and scraggly faced, he was handsome and strong looking, had an air of serenity about him. He'd grown up. And he was breathtaking now, in both appearance and attitude.

"I'm sorry Megumi, I didn't mean to just barge in like this, I should go." He drained the last of his tea, rose and picked his cloak up and made to put it back on.

"No," she said almost too frantically. "Please stay. It's been so long since I've been able to have a nice conversation with someone that didn't involve bandages or medication." Her eyes were pleading though her voice was steady, and Sano noticed this.

"Well, I haven't eaten in a quite a while now, and I don't want to trouble you by-"

"Nonsense!" she said as she grabbed the cloak from him, took a whiff and held it out away from her. "I've got plenty of things to eat here. I'll make us a nice dinner." She threw his cloak into a laundry basin. "Why don't you help yourself to a bath? I had the water ready for myself but you need it more than I do." Megumi threw a yukata at him. "And bring the rest of those dirty clothes in when you're finished, I'll wash them later."

"Megumi," Sano said in an apologetic tone, "I don't need you to feed me or do my laundry, I'll stay at an inn and let them take care of it. You do enough without having to take care of me." He sat the yukata on the table and pulled his cloak out of the still dry basin. Megumi's hand was suddenly around his wrist.

"Please… Please stay." She closed her eyes and lowered her head. "I want you to stay here tonight… Stay with me." Sano's gaze fell to her dark bangs shadowing her eyes. His free hand came up and tilted her chin up.

"Megumi…" His voice was soft as velvet, his stare was gentle. "Are you alright? You seem jumpy and nervous. This isn't like you, kitsune." He watched a single tear roll down her face. "What's wrong, doc?"

"I should be in mourning for my friend, sharing my sorrow with that person's best friend…" she said in a shaky voice. "But… all I can think of… is how much I need you. How much I need you to make me not feel so lonely anymore, to keep me company and keep me safe." Sano eyed her questioningly. "I always liked you Sanosuke. I liked your spirit, even though we used to fight all the time. I thought you were a little rough around the edges, but your heart was always in the right place." Her body began to shake with her tears, and Sano wrapped his arms around her.

"Shh, what are you trying to tell me, you silly fox?" he said with a grin as he tried to quiet her sobs. "You're not trying to tell me you love me are you? A brash rooster head with a gambling problem and a perpetual empty wallet? That's not your style, Megumi."

Megumi shoved herself away from him for a moment. Her hands came to his now long hair. "There is nothing about these locks that look anything like a rooster, Sano. When you left here, you were everything you just said you were. But look at yourself now. Look at the man you became, look at what you lost and what you gained, then tell me who wouldn't love what stands before me." Her hand came to stroke the stubble growing on his face. "As gruff and unkempt as you are, you didn't try to take advantage of me, you offered to go find your own lodging and food, didn't want me to do your laundry, didn't want to be a burden. The old Sano wouldn't have thought twice about a free meal."

Megumi turned and opened a drawer at her desk and pulled out the letters he'd sent her over the past fifteen years he'd been on the continent. "If you read these in order you can watch your maturity happen before your eyes." Sano came to her side and gently touched her forearm.

"What are you trying to tell me, Megumi? Please tell me plainly so I'm not mistaken about what it is you expect of me." His fingers were trailing softly up and down the cotton of her kimono.

"I can't spit it out! It's so embarrassing!" she squealed as she hid her face under her other sleeve.

"Then you just answer yes or no, okay?" Sano tugged her to sit at the table with him. Megumi kept her entire face hidden from him as he proceeded to ask his questions. "Are you suffering from some kind of mental sickness?" She giggled and muttered a negative response. "Are you having a temporary lapse of judgment?" Another giggle and she shook her head this time. "Are you trying to tell me you want me to stay the night?" A pause. No giggle. A quiet affirmative erupted from under her sleeve. "Do you want me to stay for a week?" She nodded. Licking his lips, gathering his courage, he took a deep breath, pulled her sleeve away and asked, "Do you want me to stay forever?"

Megumi's face flushed. She turned away from him, but he cupped her cheek and made her face him. "Megumi… do you want me to stay forever?"

She closed her eyes. She had waited for a very long time for him to know what feelings had been growing in her heart during his absence, and now that the opportunity had finally arrived, she couldn't make herself speak. She felt him place his forehead against hers and heard him whisper her name…

"Yes," she said clearly. "But, I could never ask you to do that. I won't ask you to give up your life to be with me." The hand that held her face squeezed lightly. The thumb brushed lovingly over her cheek with a softness she didn't know he had.

"Baka," he said quietly, "a life without you ain't worth living." His lips came down on hers slowly, as if to give her time to change her mind. He was tender, gentle. Megumi's mind whirled. She had wondered what it would be like to kiss the rooster, wondered if he'd be as rough and uncouth as he was known to be. But this kiss, this kiss matched the new Sano that had gradually won her heart. This kiss was mature and unafraid. It was perfect.

He pulled back from her at last, grinning at the blush he'd left upon her cheeks. "I wasn't sure if you'd feel the same as I did, otherwise I would have done that as soon as you opened the door." He took her hands in his. "Tell ya what fox. I'll stay forever, but you have to marry me."

"There's my rooster," she said as she smiled at him. "No frilly words, no dramatic declarations of love, just a simple negotiation." She leaned forward and kissed him chastely on the cheek. "So do you want to have a wedding or just have the magistrate make it legal?"

"Well, back in the old days, all you had to do was have the woman move in with the man." He winked at her and pulled her to his lap. "The other old fashioned way is for me to take you in the other room and love you til the sun comes up."

She ran her hands through his hair. "Or we could honor Kenshin's memory and have a small ceremony at the dojo. Just our little extended family." She laid her head on his shoulder. "After all, we would never have gotten to know each other so well if it hadn't been for him."

Sano looked into the fire. "Yeah… you're right. I think I like that idea." His arms tightened around her body, pulling her closer to him. "I still wanna love you til the sun comes up," he said with a smirk.

Megumi chuckled as she rose from his lap and began to work on making a stew. "Maybe after we eat. And only if you bathe while I'm cooking dinner."

Sano stood and peeled his shirt off then threw it in the basin with his cloak. "So you don't like it dirty?" he said with a grin.

Without a pause, she said, "Not when it involves actual dirt. Now go wash up, then we'll eat." She tossed him a heated glance over her shoulder. "Then we'll see just how dirty I can stand it."

Sano shook his head with a gentle smile. "I really do love you, ya know. This isn't just lust here."

She returned his gentle smile. "I know you do, Sano. And I love you too." She tossed the yukata at him. "See you when you get out… husband."

He turned and walked to where Megumi had the bath ready and began to hum a little tune. He stopped and turned before he entered the bathroom. "I like the sound of that… wife."


	2. Brand New

***I don't own Ruroni Kenshin or any of the characters found within***

* * *

Sano was out of his element completely. He found himself pacing in the hallway of a hospital, waiting for news of Megumi. Unlike the last time he was here, he was completely alone, all of his best pals 'indisposed'; Kenshin had died last spring, Kaoru was barely hanging on, Yahiko and Kenji were running the dojo in an effort to keep a roof over their families heads… And his poor Megumi was somewhere down the hall, in the midst of birthing his first child.

He had married her not long after his return from China. There was a simple ceremony held at the Kamiya Dojo, and not more than three months afterward, his lovely bride began showing signs of what she believed was the flu. It took her about 3 weeks before she realized it was most certainly _not_ the flu. That's when Sano knew his whole life was about to be turned upside down. While he put on a happy face for Megumi, at night when he and Yahiko would share a sake jug, his real feelings of insecurity and fear would rise to the surface. He would worry about how they were going to manage to make ends meet, worry about caring for an infant when Megumi would no doubt go back to practicing medicine (she was the only one working, after all), and it seemed there was nothing to be done but simply wait for the child to be born and play it by ear as it came. That was something he had a problem with too. Sanosuke always had a plan, almost always had a backup plan, and this waiting until things started to happen was really getting the best of him. And late last night his waiting had ended. She woke him with labor pains and he'd gotten her to the small hospital, and Megumi ended up having to send for the woman she referred her own patients to.

But that had been long hours ago. The sun was now up and greeting a brand new day, and Sano's nerves were more ragged than ever. "Dammit," he mused aloud. "What the hell is taking so long?" His beat up black shoes were worn down almost to the inner lining and he had traded his white wraps and clothing for traditional hakema and a suikan. As he became entranced once more by the _swish_ of his hakema in the quiet hallway, finally a door opened up and another woman doctor strode gracefully to him, her sleeves tied back and wiping sweat from her brow.

"Mr. Sagara?" she asked in a sing-song voice. He stopped pacing, looked up at her and nodded enthusiastically. "Congratulations, it's a boy! You can come in now, please follow me."

Sano's legs threatened to buckle. _He_ was the _father_ of a brand new baby boy… _a son._ Former thug, gambler, and at times hero, mercenary, and newly domesticated Sanosuke Sagara… he could now add _father_ to that list. The young woman came to his side and smiled. "It's alright now, Papa. Mama did most of the work, all you have to do is come meet your son. He's a handsome boy." She took his arm and walked him slowly down the hall, his every step felt as if it hadn't even touched the ground. The closer he got, the more he found he wasn't as scared as he thought he'd be. He was more excited than anything, and before they reached the room where Megumi was recovering, he'd found the strength to walk on his own again.

He opened the door and peered inside. Megumi was sitting up in the bed, looking much thinner than when he was shooed out late the night before, and cradling in her arms a small squirming infant. She looked up and beamed at him, her face angelic despite her obvious exhaustion. "Come here, Sano. Look at our son." She shifted her arms a bit as the woman doctor shut the door on them. The infant's face was still smooshed up, his tiny head a little elongated from just being birthed, but his features were unmistakable. He was a perfect blend of his parentage. The boy had Megumi's eyes and nose, but Sanosuke's defiant jaw and mouth.

Not sure what to do, he leaned down before he sat next to her, gave her a loving kiss to the forehead and whispered, "He's perfect, fox. Are you alright?"

She nodded weakly. "I'm just so tired. He didn't want to come out right away." They gazed down at the dark hair that crowned the baby, and watched him yawn with his tiny mouth, as if to reiterate how tired both mother and child were. "Do you want to go to your father, little one?" she cooed as she slowly passed him to Sano, who was quietly panicking.

"Uh, I don't know about that Megumi, I ain't never held a brand new baby before…" But before he could protest any further his boy was in his arms and he was suddenly the one cooing. "Hey there little guy," he said softly. The infant gurgled a bit, opened his dark eyes for a moment and then closed them again. "I can't believe you're finally here," he said as his finger stroked the boy's soft cheek. The baby flashed a grin at him and Sano chuckled a little.

His eyes took in the child he held. He had ten fingers, just as he should have. His eyes were set evenly, his tiny little nose twitched occasionally at some new scent or another… His tiny little hands, whose palms were as big as the pad on Sano's index finger, flexed and wrapped around his pinkie with a surprisingly strong grip. He happened to notice the tiny seed sized fingernails that tipped those little fingers, and was suddenly in awe that he and his woman had created something so precious as a new life.

Just as it seemed his heart couldn't hold any more joy, the little infant made a cute little noise, and Sano fell instantly in love after that. "You will be a strong boy, and you will redeem the Sagara name from the mud which I dragged it through in my life." He smiled down at the boy. "I wish Kenshin were still here. He'd be so happy to see you too." His thoughts wandered as he stared down at the baby, watching his every move and cataloging his every reaction to the sweet little caresses he gave. "I think we should name him Shinta, y'know, after Kenshin's real name. What do you think?" He looked up to find his wife sound asleep, but with a beautiful happy smile on her face as she snored quietly.

He looked back to the infant in his arms, so tiny compared to his own size. "Yes, I think Shinta is a good name. Shinta Sagara." He got up from the chair and scooted it closer to Megumi, then sat down and propped his feet up in the bed with her, and the three of them dozed in the bright sunshine of a brand new morning.


End file.
